from shezan

in fact i'm sure i've hit more counties than this; this is just the ones i'm confident of.

( britannia )

okay, there's that general british passive-aggressive mustn't-offend, and then there's this.

got a broadcast e-mail the other day from the college office saying the application for college housing for next year is ready.  responded to ask them to put a hard copy in my mailbox, since i have no printer.

got a broadcast e-mail this morning from the Accommodation Secretary:

Please note per the accommodation policy, if you have already been resident in St Cross accommodation, you cannot apply for another years accommodation.

[sic].

so naturally, i responded -- Please clarify; who is eligible for the housing lottery? --  new students are (more or less) guaranteed housing, see, and there is then (i've been assured all year) a "room ballot", i.e. housing lottery, for those who want second-year housing.

she says:

Students that have not previously had any accommodation at St Cross College.  Please read the policy sent to you.

oh, i've read it.  it says

Continuing Students:  30 rooms to be reserved.  Applications will be given priority as follows:
-- College posts eg. Junior Dean, IT Reps, Site Assistants etc. will be given reserved rooms.
-- Students who have not had college accommodation previously

i didn't realize, i said (spelling it my own way, dammit, because i'm annoyed; normally i'd have spelled it with an s, 'cause when in Rome, you know), that "priority" meant the rest of us were completely barred.

she replies:

After the college posts have been filled, there are only approx 14 rooms left and students that have not had accommodation previously get priority.

Due to shortage of accommodation for new students, this is a new policy which has been approved by your student representatives in Common Room committee, Welfare Committee and Executive Committee.

I can only suggest that you put your name down at the University Accommodation Office.

none of which is the point.  my name is down in a lot of places, one of which is the University Accommodation Office.  but if i'm not allowed to apply for college housing, under a new policy approved by student reps etc., that's fine -- only the application should say so.  don't tell me you're "reminding" me of something i've never been told before, and don't tell me the policy clearly states something it doesn't state at all.

i said:

I'm pursuing a lot of options.  :-)  I'm just saying, "X group of students will be given priority" doesn't mean the same as "Y group of students are not permitted to apply."

dudes.

i don't think it's just because of the jerking-around i've been getting from the accommodation office or the fact that i haven't done enough of the reading for morphology tomorrow (which i am doing now) or the fact that i'm totally keeping this cold at bay with a whip and a chair (and decongestants and these zinc/C lozenges that are actually pretty tasty, and plus are supposed to promote healthy skin as well as a stronger immune system), or even all three of those things together.

okay, maybe it is.  but yesterday i was, like, happy girl, and today i'm grouchy.  rar.  mood swings.  i hate them.

who says linguists aren't funny?

this is a direct quote from Morphology By Itself: Stems and Inflectional Classes, by Mark Aronoff, 1994.

The term gender is often understood as being essentially connected to sex.  For example, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition of the grammatical use of gender:  "Each of the three (or two) grammatical 'kinds,' corresponding more or less to distinctions of sex (or absence of sex), into which sbs. are discriminated according to the nature of the modifications they require in words syntactically associated with them."  Etymologically, this association between gender and sex is partly correct.  The Latin term genus 'kind' (and indeed the English word kind) is derived historically from the Indo-European root gen/gon 'be born', and the connection between reproduction and sex is well established.

hee.

orange852 is cool

orange852 is cool because she's at the end of my list.  :-D  kidding!  but she'd have said something similar about me; like a lot of people i enjoy, orange852 speaks my kind of snark.  we often not only agree but phrase things in the same way, yell at the same people for the same reasons, etc.  plus she thinks i'm cute.  ;-)  what's not to love?

from elance

It is now "Make a Vague LJ Post about Someone Else Week!"

If vague LJ posting is an issue that touches your heart and your families, join us in supporting this cause by making a vague LJ post of your very own!

... and not only that, but the following conversations are Bad (1-3) or just unhelpful (4):

1.
A:  You know by now that I don't like being treated that way.
B:  But I didn't treat you that way.

2.
A:  You know by now that I don't like being treated that way.
B:  But I was right to treat you that way.

3.
A:  You know by now that I don't like being treated that way.
B:  Well -- sometimes, I'm going to treat you that way.

4.
A:  You know by now that I don't like being treated that way.
B:  I can't eat anchovies anymore.  I wish you understood that.
A:  ... um, what?

what is to be done?  nothing for it but to move Aself out of range of being treated that way, you know what i'm saying?

update on e-mail to professor-people

Dear Fox,

I'd be happy to meet with you and talk further on this. I shall be free tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon at 3 or later, and also have a fair bit of unallocated time on Friday.

-- Phonetician


Dear Fox,

Thank you for your e-mail.  I can't claim more competence in shape rules than in Old English and Celtic interactions, so I'm glad to see that Dr Phonetician is willing to discuss the issue with you.  Let me know, please, what conclusions he and you reach.

yours ever,
Supervisor


yay!  meeting Phonetician tomorrow afternoon immediately following morphology tutorial, the essay for which i'd better get back to writing.